Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-04-Speech-2-028"
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"en.20060704.5.2-028"2
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".
Mr President, the legislative work on the package of regulations on cohesion policy for the years 2007-2013 comes to an end today. We all remember the heated debate on the role and significance of cohesion policy in the European Union for achieving the aims of the Lisbon Strategy, as well as the attempts to limit cohesion policy gradually, and even to renationalise it.
Today we are discussing these matters as if they were in the past, but it is useful for us at the European Parliament to remember that implementing the principle of solidarity through cohesion policy, amongst others, is an integral part of the functioning of the European Union. Its form may change, it may be adapted to new objectives, but to undermine it is to negate the basis on which the Community operates. Implementing cohesion policy, therefore, does not simply imply defining the structure of certain funds and the ways in which they are to be used. Most of all, it requires a definition of its current goals. This then needs to be followed by steps to adapt the policy methodology and implementation strategies, as well as by practical measures.
In line with the terms of the Treaties, social and economic cohesion policy can be implemented with the aid of common financial resources. However, it can also be implemented without them, by means of joint activities in various Member States aimed at achieving similar goals. During the current programming period, joint cross-border activities form part of the Community initiative Interreg. This initiative encourages border-region, transnational and interregional cooperation. Experience of Interreg activities shows that cross-border initiatives undertaken jointly by local and regional authorities in several Member States are of great importance to them, as they create cooperation networks and build mutual trust. We can conclude that these activities, which use up few financial resources, deliver considerable added value.
The new programming period should take advantage of this positive experience. Initiatives typically associated with Interreg have therefore been included in the main stream of cohesion policy, within the framework of Objective III. There is also a need to create new legal and organisational opportunities for cooperation partners. That is also the source of the innovative idea of creating a new legal instrument that would support all border-region, transnational and interregional activities. The core of this initiative lies in giving cooperation partners, who do not always use EU funds, an instrument which will make it easier for them to organise different activities, including cross-border public services.
In line with the proposed regulation, and once the objectives and principles of cooperation have been established, public authorities and the public bodies created with their assistance within the European Union, in other words regional, local and national authorities, will be able to sign a suitable agreement which is referred to in the regulation as a convention. They will then be able to register the new institution as European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation. It will have a legal personality which will be recognised throughout the whole European Union, once all the Member States have been informed.
The new regulation will introduce a new legal precedent. It deals with system-related issues and has therefore been met with many expressions of alarm, reservations and even protests. Work on the regulation has been an example of consistent progress towards compromise solutions requiring many concessions and difficult decisions. It is worth emphasising that the proposed solution guarantees Member States full control over the creation and operation of the EGTC. The compromise that has been achieved has not changed the essence of the new solution nor its innovative form.
Today’s vote concludes the legislative work and creates new opportunities. Most of all, it is a way of expressing our appreciation to all those who have, for many years, been building a truly European, decentralised form of international cooperation. As a rapporteur from a Member State that joined the European Union during the recent enlargement, I had the opportunity to get to grips with the complexity of the legislative process. That is why I would particularly like to thank, for their extremely constructive and positive cooperation, Commissioner Danuta Hübner, the representatives of DG REGIO, the representatives of the successive presidencies, especially the Austrian Presidency, the secretariat of the Committee on Regional Development, the political advisors and also my collaborators and experts from Poland."@en1
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